Category Archives: Sydney - South

Eating adventures in the Southern Suburbs of Sydney

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot

When I published my blogpost on the Vietnamese rolls, I didn’t realise that a few doors down from VeeVee was a cake shop that specialised in Greek sweets and has been doing so, at various locations around Sydney, since 1955. I love Greek yogurt, Greek cheese and the Greek Almond biscuits so I figure I ought to give these cakes a try-all in the name of research you see.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot

This is apparently their newest store and it certainly looks that way. What has caught my eye are the cylindrical cakes, in a myriad of colours and flavours. I’m buying cake for 4 people for dessert so I figure one cake per person plus some biscuits will do and resist their seemingly over the top suggestion of 2 cakes per person as well as biscuits. I select the Continental (layers of vanilla sponge with layers of vanilla fresh cream and chocolate fresh cream finished with a fine layer of Belgian chocolate); Praline (layers of vanilla sponge layered with caramelised flaked almonds fresh cream); Mango and Coconut Fresh Cream (layers of vanilla sponge together with layers of mango and coconut fresh cream finished with a mango glaze) all $3.90 each plus a Chocolate Mud Cake $2.90 (layers of chocolate mud cake layered with ganache chocolate and finished with a spread of fine chocolate). Alongside these I choose a strawberry and lemon melting moment dipped in icing and some pistachio biscuits, some melomakaronas (traditional almond honey biscuit) and of course my favourite greek almond shortbreads liberally sprinkled with icing sugar (all $19 a kilo, my box of 8 cookies was $8.27).

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot Praline
Praline (layers of vanilla sponge layered with caramelised flaked almonds fresh cream) $3.90

Uncovering these at our destination, we discover that they have transported well as they fit snugly in the box. We are eager to taste and dig in. The first one tried is one of my favourite flavours: Praline. I love the taste of the roughly splintered toffee and nuts and this is as faithful as they come. Most of the cakes are of the same base (vanilla sponge, fresh cream) but the flavours are sprinkled on an inside layer of cream.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot Mango coconut cake
Mango and Coconut Fresh Cream (layers of vanilla sponge together with layers of mango and coconut fresh cream finished with a mango glaze) $3.90

The mango and coconut is next and the mango is sweet and lovely when contrasted with the cream but I am not tasting much coconut in it. Perhaps its just flavouring in the cream but its fairly indistinct and masked by the mango.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot
Continental (layers of vanilla sponge with layers of vanilla fresh cream and chocolate fresh cream finished with a fine layer of Belgian chocolate) $3.90

The Continental is next. Its a bit of a disappointment as it lacks a really distinct flavour. Its much like tiramisu but without the coffee or alcohol. Not bad by any means, but not as exciting as the others.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot Mud cake
Chocolate Mud Cake (Two layers of chocolate mud cake layered with ganache chocolate and finished with a spread of fine chocolate) $2.90

Its onto the Mud Cake next and we’ve warmed it for the 20 seconds in the microwave as recommended by the girl in the shop. Its lovely and moist, not quite as dense as some mud cakes can get but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The melting chocolate is rich and ever so good and the centre of ganache makes this more interesting than your average chocolate mud cake. A definite winner and it looks like this baby is everyone’s favourite.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot pistachio biscuit
Pistachio biscuits $19 per kg

We manage to squeeze in the biscuits and by now, we are full of sponge and cream. The pistachio biscuit is covered with sesame seeds and studded thickly with roughly chopped pistachios. It resembles Italian biscotti but softer and would be superb dipped in coffee.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot Melomakarona
Strawberry and lemon melting moments $19 per kg

The lemon and strawberry melting moments are, as the name suggests melt in the mouth shortbread fused together with filling and one end dipped in icing. Being an icing freak, of course I like the end that is dipped in icing, leaving behind the non icing part.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot Melomakarona
Melomakaronas (traditional almond honey biscuit) $19 per kg

The melomakarona are next, they’re sweet with honey syrup and sprinkled with walnuts and heady with orange peel and spice. They’re very sweet and a little goes a long way.

Christopher’s Cake Shop at Mascot Almond shortbread
Almond shortbread $19 per kg

Last is the almond shortbread biscuits. Surprisingly, I like these the least of the lot, the almond and nutty flavour less strong than others that I’ve had. I’m disappointed as I saved these for last as they’re usually a favourite.

Feeling like a big ball of cream and sponge I am thankful that I ignored their suggestion of 2 cakes per person. One cake and biscuits is definitely enough for a mere mortal!

Christopher’s Cake Shop

1213 Botany Road, Mascot
Ph: +61 (02) 9667-0300

409 Bourke, Surry Hills
Ph: +61 (02) 9360-4878

8 Regent Street, Kogarah
Ph: +61 (02) 9587-0222

Open Monday-Saturday 7.30am-6pm

2 comments | February 6, 2008 - 4:00 pm | Not Quite Nigella

Crystal Garden at Malabar

Don’t you hate it when you go to foodblog about a place that has always provided you with great service and food only to find that the owner is away and chaos and confusion runs amok?

Crystal Garden at Malabar Menu

Needless to say, this is what happened to us with Crystal Garden. Its our most well loved Chinese restaurant, a hidden gem and we’ve always had flawless service and food there. Tonight, the owner is absent and sadly it really shows with the service we receive.

If you order their regular suburban Chinese offerings, you’ll wonder what I am talking about. Its only when you scratch the surface of this suburban Chinese restaurant and order the seafood from the tank that this gem really shines.

Crystal Garden at Malabar Lobster alive
He looks mad-as well he should be!

Tonight its a celebration so its Lobster from the tank ($75 a kilo for a 2.3 kilo lobster). We needed to pre order it as they usually only have crab and fish ready in the tank. We also order Pay pah tofu (tofu balls sauteed with prawn meat with broccoli), fried rice and a steamed fish with ginger, coriander and shallots.

We’re waiting a good 25 minutes before any food arrives with nary a prawn cracker passing by our table. Its relatively empty but we’re receiving service as if the restaurant was full and there was only one waitress on. There’s also no sign of the complimentary house soup that one gets when making a big seafood order.

Crystal Garden at Malabar Lobster

XO Chili lobster 2.3kg with double lot of e-fu noodles $182.50

After 20 minutes we beg for some prawn crackers (which never materialise) and within 5 minutes of our request, our enormous lobster platter arrives resplendent with glistening sauce. The lobster is huge, sitting atop a double lot of e-fu noodles on a large oval platter, the luscious XO chili sauce almost spilling off the edges. Something to note about the lobster and crab here is that you will always get the whole lobster whereas at other places we’ve ordered crab and lobster at, we could swear that there are a few pieces that have been taking for posterity by the kitchen staff. They’re very generous with using XO chili sauce which some restaurants skimp on as it can be expensive. The lobster is tender and succulent and each piece is coated in the delicious sauce. The noodles are soft and the unctuous, spicy sauce coats them perfectly. Its heaven on a plate, nothing more, nothing less.

Crystal Garden at Malabar Fried rice
Fried rice $7.80

We need to request the next few dishes as our waitress says that she was waiting until we finished each one before getting another. She starts to clear the plates but gets distracted halfway and walks off leaving half of us with fresh plates, half without any plates at all with the new ones sitting at a nearby table which we help ourselves to.

Crystal Garden at Malabar Pe Pah tofu
Pay pah tofu $13.80

Our pay pah tofu arrives surrounded by steamed broccoli, its a little more messily presented than normal although it tastes magnificent, the soft flavoursome balls of tofu have small pieces of prawn inside and are coated in a delicious oyster and sesame sauce. The broccoli is perfectly textured, firm with a touch of crunch still.

Crystal Garden at Malabar-steamed fish
Steamed barramundi with ginger, shallots and coriander $28

Our steamed barramundi arrives, again with some prompting from us, and its as good as always, the fresh fish steamed perfectly with a deliciously light soy and ginger sauce atop which sits shredded shallots and a sheaf of fresh coriander. Its a deliciously healthy but satisfyingly tasty dish that we cannot fail to order.

Crystal Garden at Malabar Orange

After some orange slices we realise that there is no sweet red bean soup coming, another complimentary dessert when you make a big seafood order so we pay and leave without receiving the usual farewell, the waitress looking up confused at us. *Sigh* Just remember, its all about the seafood.

Crystal Garden at Malabar Lobster

Crystal Garden

1121 Anzac Parade
Malabar NSW 2026
Phone (02) 9661 9026
Lunch Tuesday to Friday 12 noon-3pm
Dinner Sunday to Thursday 5pm-10pm Friday to Saturday 5pm-11pm

7 comments | January 29, 2008 - 4:00 pm | Not Quite Nigella

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee

Mascot, Sydney. Home of the airport and errrmmm…let me think what else. Oh yes, Vietnamese rolls! On the same stretch of street, a few doors down from each other are two Vietnamese roll bakeries, Hong Ha and Vee Vee. Hong Ha is the one whose queues are stretching out onto the street, VeeVee by comparison does a more modest trade but has been there for years so it can’t be doing too badly.

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee
The selection at Hong Ha

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee
The selection at VeeVee

We decide to do a blindfold taste testing challenge to see who does the best a) pork roll and B) meatball roll. There are also chicken and salad and cheese rolls but pork is the traditional one and meatball is the preferred one from the tasters. We dutifully wait in line for 5 minutes at Hong Ha where the rolls are $4.50 each while there isn’t a wait at VeeVee where the rolls are $3.50.

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee
Hong Ha rolls

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee
Veevee rolls

Hurrying back we have our blindfolds arranged and we carefully slice up the rolls into four and label them carefully. We needn’t really have labelled them as the look of the two store’s rolls are different. VeeVee’s are bulging with filling and topped with coriander and spring onion. Hong Ha’s are less filled with the coriander and spring onion at the bottom and topped with shredded carrot, the bread very, very crispy and warm to the touch.

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee

All of us take turns in tasting these blindfolded and the votes as to the favourites are as follows:

VeeVee Pork: Rose preferred
VeeVee Meatball: Blythe, Ronald and Rose preferred
HongHa Pork: Blythe, Ronald and I preferred
HongHa Meatball: I preferred

The VeeVee pork is good but no match for Hong Ha’s Pork which is pure bliss with the crunchy roll and mix of pork and mysterious but delicious brown sauce flavour. The patient queue goers must undoubtedly be queuing up for these babies as they’re incredibly good.

However the VeeVee meatball is the majority winner as the roll is softer which lends itself better to the soft meatballs. The amount of filling in the VeeVee meatball is markedly more and the combination of vegetables, meatballs and mayonnaise tastes great together. The only reason I rate the Hong Ha meatball slightly higher is that I prefer the HongHa meatball itself. If I could swap the meatballs around it would be a Super Roll!

Vietnamese roll Blindfold challenge Hong Ha versus VeeVee

Overall HongHa is better if you like your bread crispy, which not everyone does. Indeed Rose preferred VeeVee for both as she doesn’t like crispy dry bread and my husband won’t partake of Hong Ha’s at all as he finds the bread terribly dry.

Other things that we noted:

  • There was a very uneven chili distribution in Hong Ha’s rolls, one roll had a ferociously large amount of chili that would send anyone jumping up and down while another had hardly any at all.
  • VeeVee’s had a generous amount of mayo which made it more enjoyable
  • VeeVee’s were much more generous with the filling
  • Hong Ha’s rolls were much crispier and fresher.

Hong Ha

1151 Botany Road
Mascot
Ph: +61 (02) 9667 2069

VeeVee

1177 Botany Rd
Mascot
Ph: +61 (02) 9317 2368

11 comments | January 9, 2008 - 4:00 pm | Not Quite Nigella

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

Yes, I’m one of those people who have always wished for a restaurant that serves Yum Cha at night. Mainly for greed related reasons: I can’t eat as much for lunch as dinner so it allows me maximum opportunity for dumpling consumption. So when my father casually mentioned that Rockdale R.S.L. Club serves Yum Cha for dinner on Wednesday nights, I picked up the phone and booked for the coming Wednesday. There are no trolleys unfortunately but you can order off the menu.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The restaurant is fairly modern with new furnishings and at 7pm there are only 3 other tables so we needn’t have booked (Bingo Night in the next room seems to be where the club patrons are at). We have a look at the Yum Cha picture menu and there is a fairly wide selection of dishes with steamed and fried dumpling lovers well catered for.

Service is never a strongpoint at Chinese restaurants and brusque is usually the word I’d use to describe it. Tonight is no exception, it appears that we need to order from the curt older gentleman and not the courteous younger waiter. There are no prices on the menu so we enquire about what the prices are and he doesn’t seem too impressed. After he consults with the cashier, it seems that items range from $4.40 to over $10 for the BBQ/larger items which is fairly standard for Sydney. There are some dishes that we tried to order but they have run out of: the fried taro pastry, deep fried mince pork dumplings and the steamed prawn rice roll.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The Gai Larn in Oyster sauce ($10.80) is the first to arrive and it is succulent and tender without a trace of stringyness or toughness. The sauce is delicious and I am very glad we’ve had our serve of veggies.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The BBQ Pork pastry triangles ($4.40 for 3) arrive next and they and the plate they’re on are piping hot. I love this chinese version of a meat pie and I find they’re best when hot like this with a deliciously flakey and meltingly good pastry.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The love-it-or-hate-it chicken’s feet ($4.40 for 5) is the next to arrive and two of us enjoy these while the other two look on in disgust. They’re fall-off-the-bone good and we’re both secretly glad that the other two can’t stand them. More for us!

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The steamed dumplings then arrive in quick succession:

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.
A must have for me, the steamed spinach leaf dumplings ($5.30 for 3) are delicious, flavoursome and plump.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The steamed prawn and chive dumplings ($5.30 for 3) are a combination of my favourite two types of dumplings and are quickly popped into respective mouths.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

Unfortunately I’ve picked the mixed mushrooms and seafood dumplings ($5.30 for 3) which I didn’t realise are the ones that I’ve never liked. Packed with soggy peanuts, I’ve never understood their appeal but they masquerade under different names so I usually end up with a steamer of them.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

For me, the true test of a restaurant is their Har Gow, their prawn dumplings. Are they plump and full of whole or halved prawns or are the prawns minced up? I prefer the former and having only found the significantly less tasty minced prawn variety in the freezer section of asian grocery shops means that we inevitably order 4 lots of Har Gows whenever we’re at a good Yum Cha restaurant. Having actually made these several years ago I appreciate how hard it is to make the skin and how expensive the filling can be. The Har Gow here (steamed fresh prawn dumplings $5.30 for 4) are the very good sort and we order two more steamers of these, an additional bonus being that we get 4 of these dumplings per steamer.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

The steamed glutinous rice in lotus leaf is the next to arrive. I love glutinous rice normally but I find that this rice is too watery and soft, perhaps a consequence of cooking for lunchtime yum cha and then reheating again for dinner? It also needs soy sauce as without it, there isn’t much flavour.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

We decline the Yum Cha desserts as my favourite on the menu are the eggy custard tarts but we reason that they won’t be freshly baked which is how we like them. Our stomachs full, they bring out some warm sesame cookies which are more-ishly good, even better that they’re warm thus giving the impression that they’re freshly baked (nevermind the big bowl I saw outside of them ready to give to guests). The obligatory fruit tonight is orange and its sweet and juicy and rounds off our dinner quite nicely.

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

A quick inspection of the bill and tea is an extra $1.10 per person but a charge we haven’t seen before is the “sauce” charge for $2.80. I can only guess that means the soy sauce and chili sauce that we’ve had since we’ve partaken of no other sauces. Some eyebrows are quietly raised over this sauce charge but all up prices are a pleasant surprise. They don’t seem hiked up for dinner time and they seem the same as what you’d find at any other Yum Cha establishment for lunch so if we don’t pick up the phone on a Wednesday night, you may find us here.

P.S. I have since learnt that lunch prices are 10% less than those for dinner and that lunch also includes free tea. I wonder if that includes free sauce too!:P

Restaurant 45

Rockdale R.S.L.
45 Bay Street
Rockdale
02-9567-2720
Open 7 days
Yum Cha: Monday to Friday 11:00-2:30pm Saturday and Sunday 10:00am-3:00pm
Dinner: Monday to Sunday 6:00pm-9:00pm. Wednesday night Yum Cha and a la carte

Yum Cha at Night - Rockdale R.S.L.

4 comments | October 8, 2007 - 5:08 pm | Not Quite Nigella